


Nine Hundredth

by Tallihensia



Category: Smallville
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-19
Updated: 2014-02-19
Packaged: 2018-01-13 01:11:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1207264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tallihensia/pseuds/Tallihensia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Shattered takes a different turn as Lex waxes Kipling.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nine Hundredth

**Author's Note:**

> For [Clexmas True Love](http://clexmas.livejournal.com/93197.html), cross-posted there.
> 
> Prompt: Sonnet
> 
> (Okay, so it's more of poetry...)
> 
> Spoilers: Shattered

## Nine Hundredth

"Lana can stay here with you," Clark said, gesturing to their friend. 

Lana smiled and nodded at Lex. "It'll be okay, Lex."

"No," Lex said, his eyes wary and his movements cautious. "No, she can't."

"Um..." That hadn't been in Clark's plans. "I have to go out, Lex. I'll be right back, and I want Lana to stay with you until I do. I don't want to risk your father."

" _I_ don't want to risk my father! Not with you, not with her, not with anybody." Lex turned towards the hay door and started pacing. "No. No it isn't and it can't. I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't be anywhere. Take me out and away and nowhere real. It can't be real and it shouldn't be real, and nobody should find us."

"What?" Clark and Lana exchanged confused and worried glances.

Lex snorted. "You're my nine-hundred and ninety-ninth... but am I yours? Or am I just unbaribly selfish? I want the thousandth.... God knows I want the thousandth, but I'm just one among the many, the nine-hundredth that has ninety nine left to go. I shouldn't have come here. I have nowhere left to go, but neither do you. Adopted by the gentle kind wolves and the snake comes prowling around, unable to leave well enough alone. I wonder if the snake was truly evil or just doing as his nature was? If so, what chance is there for me? Nature is, and though I try to change my spots, they remain stripes, as vivid and bright as my father's and as immolate. No. Immutable. Though immolation is what I'm doing, burning myself up, and all those near me as well. Don't leave me here – take me elsewhere, somewhere where the flames won't hurt."

"What?" Clark was totally completely lost. Lex had been floating in and out of coherency since he'd shown up at the farm, but usually Clark could follow his thoughts. Not this time.

"Kipling," Lana said, her voice quiet. "He's quoting Kipling. Different ones."

Both Lex and Clark looked at her. That was right, Lana liked that poetry stuff too. Clark would have to get some books, just for self-defense between his friends.

Lex grinned, a sudden sharp focus that offset his earlier vagueness.

_If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew_  
 _To serve your turn long after they are gone,_  
 _And so hold on when there is nothing in you_  
 _Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”_

Lex trailed off and then shook his head and looked outside in silence.

"If, what?" Clark asked. His heart ached for his friend but he just couldn't figure it out.

"Then you'll be a Man," Lana said with a smile.

"Or an adopted wolfling," Lex said. He turned and walked away from them. "Clark, I shouldn't be here. Take me away somewhere. Somewhere they can't find me. You think I'm a gruff, but there are two more stronger and nastier than I. And they will follow until they have me. Or you."

Okay, this one Clark knew. "I don't think you're a billy goat guff, Lex." He paused. "But who's the second? I mean your Dad is one, but what's the other?"

"What. I like that, what, not who." Lex grinned. "Morgan, of course. They work together or apart, but they will do it. You know that. Kal knows that."

Clark glanced sharply at Lex. Lex hadn't been around for that. He hadn't thought he'd left anything that connected Kal with Clark. 

Lex walked out of the barn.

Clark hung his head and sighed. He couldn't keep Lex if Lex didn't want to stay, but he couldn't find anything that would prove Lex was sane if he couldn't go explore. At this point, Lex wasn't doing a very good job of proving his sanity. 

"How long will the drugs keep affecting him?" Lana asked quietly.

"I don't know," Clark admitted. "It was in his drinks, and from what I can figure out, they'd been doing it for awhile, building it up to this point."

"So days."

"At least." Clark was incredibly frustrated. He went to the door and watched Lex, who was standing at the fence.

"He's right," Lana said, not moving from her inside spot. "He can't stay here. Take him.... how about where you and your dad sometimes go up camping? That spot in the woods near the river?"

"Or..." Clark could think of a few other places. "Yeah. Yeah, I could do that. I don't want to leave him by himself, though."

Lana bit her lip and looked scared.

"Okay." Clark watched Lex and knew it had to be. At least for now. "Thanks, Lana... could you go in with my mom? I want to talk to Lex for a bit."

After she left, Clark joined Lex at the fence. They stood together for a bit. Clark couldn't help but be aware of Lex in his shirt. It hung loose on Lex and made him look vulnerable in a way Lex rarely was.

_‘Tis neither promise nor prayer nor show_  
 _Will settle the finding for ‘ee._  
 _Nine hundred and ninety-nine of ‘em go_  
 _By your looks, or your acts, or your glory._  
 _But if he finds you and you find him,_  
 _The rest of the world don’t matter;_

Lex's voice was steady and composed as he quoted again. Again, though, he didn't finish it but trailed off.

"I'll take you away," Clark promised. "We need to get you something warm, and a tent for you to stay in... do you know how to camp?"

"I'll manage," Lex promised, his eyes shining. "I'll manage anything, as long as you believe in me. If you can be my thousandth instead of my nine-hundredth, I can do anything."

END

**Author's Note:**

> I totally meant to put references on this before I posted and completely forgot! Sorry about that - thank you for reminding me, Oliver. ^^
> 
> Most of the references are Rudyard Kipling.
> 
> 1\. [The Thousandth Man](http://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/poems_thousandth.htm). The most important part here that Lex _isn't_ quoting is the first part: _One man in a thousand, Solomon says. Will stick more close than a brother. And it's worth while seeking him half your days If you find him before the other._
> 
> 2\. [Jungle Book](http://www.planetpdf.com/planetpdf/pdfs/free_ebooks/The_Jungle_Book_NT.pdf). Basically Mowgli is an orphaned human adopted by kindly wolves and befriended by a bear and a panther. A python snake is a dangerous ally but not one to trust completely.
> 
> 3\. Spots. It's a mix of bible and Kipling. The bible says "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil." Jeremiah 13:23. Meaning that evil is innate. Kipling rather turned this around by making a cute little story about [How the Leopard Got His Spots](http://www.sff.net/people/karawynn/justso/leopard.htp) and at the end, "Oh, now and then you will hear grown-ups say, 'Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots?' I don't think even grown-ups would keep on saying such a silly thing if the Leopard and the Ethiopian hadn't done it once -- do you? But they will never do it again, Best Beloved. They are quite contented as they are." (Stripes was just mixing Tigers into the mix, and Lions. Lex was rambling.)
> 
> 4\. [Kipling's poem 'If'](http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/175772).
> 
> 5\. [Three Bill Goats Gruff](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Billy_Goats_Gruff). (Not Kipling)
> 
>  
> 
> And the references are now longer than the story. ;p


End file.
